


like icarus and the sun (my love finds a home with you)

by Irratia



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Asexual Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sharing Clothes, Swearing, all the kithes, but i'm yearning they aren't, funky fresh queer yearning, he/they willie, kithes, probably, they are in love, this is some really soft shit, watching the sunrise together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29910744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irratia/pseuds/Irratia
Summary: Alex can’t help but laugh and kisses Willie’s knuckles again, and presses a quick kiss to their left ring finger, just above the black ring sitting there. He still can’t believe that Willie is his husband, even if it’s been nearly a year. Waking up next to them still feels like a miracle even seven years later, even when Luke’s almost crushing him and neither of them can move because they’re too tangled up with the others. Alex likes these times, when he’s the only one awake and can take all the time he wants to stare at Willie, and how peaceful his family looks, admire how much or how little they’ve changed.(a slow morning and the rising sun)
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 96





	like icarus and the sun (my love finds a home with you)

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello!!!  
> welcome to me being queer, single, touch starved and yearning.  
>  this is everything i want and i'm upset i don't have it, but i love they so they can have it but for someone move into a house by the sea with me and give me kithes  
> i hope you enjoy!!

Living in a house with people who don’t get out of bed until noon, if they have it their way, and being the only early riser is shit when Alex doesn’t want to make breakfast or gets bored, or antsy and wants to just whale on his drums for a while. He did that once and got collectively shunned for it, so now he doesn’t anymore. Being the only one who gets up early does also have its perks though. 

The sun is still only barely visible over the horizon, a kid peeking through the curtains before a performance, looking to see if there’s an audience. Alex never misses it, if he can help himself. He sits on the bench they’ve put in the perfect viewing spot, and even if the others claim it’s for them as well, they all know it’s for him.

They have a house, a really big one, all of them together, from the money they make with the band. It’s by the sea, not too close so they don’t get bothered by beach-goers, but still close enough. Alex can watch the waves lap at the pale sand for hours when his heart races and wait until it’s in sync with the water, and there’s always the smell of salt and kelp in the air, and there’s always a breeze to caress his cheeks and pull at Willie’s hair. There’s a small path only for them, down to the beach that Luke and Reggie run down like excited children, and they have their own pool because Bobby doesn’t like swimming in the open sea, and there’s a big garden that Julie’s working on filling.

They haven’t lived here for long, even if the place has been theirs for about three years. With the tours and the band and the writing and the tours, again, they haven’t really had the opportunity to settle in, it hadn’t felt worthwhile. Now though, now they’re on a break, a year just to breathe and plan for the future and write and play music just for fun again, like they used to do before they made it big. 

It’s not like Alex hadn’t been happy on tour. Touring had been amazing, getting to see so much of the world and playing music for people who loved it, sitting behind his drums on a stage in an arena full of people screaming their lyrics back at them, with his family on stage and his love somewhere in the wings taking photographs. He’d loved it, a lot, but it had been… stressful. An endless rush of packing and unpacking and boarding flights or busses and not nearly as much time at their stops as he wished for. 

Now, three months into their free year, with the house nearly done and music not an obligation anymore but a treat again, he feels like he can breathe again. He has the freedom to just read all day, to practice the ballet moves he still remembers again instead of losing the skin on his fingers from drumming all day. He can just live in the day, as much as that’s possible for him anyway, and look forward to Julie’s parents and Uncle Trev visiting, or getting to annoy Carrie and Flynn who aren’t as dependant on them, but still live within walking distance. He gets to catch the sunrise every morning. It’s nice.

He hears Willie approaching before he sees him. They’ve known each other long enough that he can tell who’s who just by the sound of their footsteps, even in soft sand. The smile is on his lips before the next wave crashes, and he breathes in the smell of the ocean.

Willie presses a kiss to the top of his head and wraps their arms around his shoulders from behind. Alex brings up one hand automatically, to wrap around Willie’s wrist. “Good morning, love,” Willie mumbles and Alex can feel the weight of their cheek on his head.

“What’re you doing up so early?” Alex is a morning person, an early riser. He likes being up with the sun, or preferably before it so he can watch the sky transform from blue to green hues that blend with the line of the sea, to an array of brilliant colours, and then to the light blue haze that comes with living by the ocean. 

Willie is a morning person out of being a generally nice and upbeat one, not because he rises early. He knows his husband would rather lay in bed until ten, or eleven, but gets up for him on most days. It’s unusual for Willie to be up this early though. They sigh loudly, and kiss his hair again. “Wanted t’see what brings you out here every morning, if it’s actually the sun or some secret love affair.”

Alex snorts and slides his hand between Willie’s, intertwining their fingers and bringing it up to his face so he can kiss their knuckles and press the back of their hand against his cheek. “Maybe the sun is my secret love affair,” he teases and delights in the tired giggle Willie lets out. “You’re Icarus, then?”

“If I’m Icarus then you’re the sun, and I’d fly closer to you even if I knew I’d fall,” Alex says earnestly. Willie makes a choked sound, then sighs loudly. “You fucking asshole, stop being so sweet so early, I’m not emotionally prepared for that.”

Alex can’t help but laugh and kisses Willie’s knuckles again, and presses a quick kiss to their left ring finger, just above the black ring sitting there. He still can’t believe that Willie is his husband, even if it’s been nearly a year. Waking up next to them still feels like a miracle even seven years later, even when Luke’s almost crushing him and neither of them can move because they’re too tangled up with the others. Alex likes these times, when he’s the only one awake and can take all the time he wants to stare at Willie, and how peaceful his family looks, admire how much or how little they’ve changed.

His eyes find their way back to Willie every time though, it’s inevitable. Him and Willie have been inevitable ever since Willie ran him over outside the record store he used to work at. He fell for them back then, and he’s been falling ever since. He doesn’t mind it. 

Willie untangles their hands and climbs over the back of the bench now, and Alex opens his arms and shuffles so that they can climb between his legs and lean back into his chest. It’s well practiced and well choreographed, to the point neither of them have to think about what they’re doing anymore. It’s a dance just for them, different to the kind they do at three am in McDonald’s parking lots when Alex can’t stop thinking and Willie takes him out for a McFlurry until he’s twirling him around on the asphalt. It’s small moments like these, not even the big romantic gestures, that make Alex fall even more, every day. 

Willie leans back and Alex rests his chin on their shoulder, wrapping his arms around Willie’s waist. The sun has started it’s ascent now, and the sea starts glowing golden. Willie worms his fingers between Alex’s and brushes his thumbs back and forth, unconsciously, probably, but Alex is aware of them. Alex is aware of pretty much everything Willie does. He kisses their shoulder. “I love you.”

Willie smiles, Alex can see it in the way his eyes crinkle, and hears it in Willie’s voice. “I love you too, even if you’re incapable of being sweet at times when I can process it.”    
Alex kisses their shoulder again, and presses his nose into the crook of their neck, breathing in deeply. It’s weird, because until Willie’s he’s never understood it, but as much as he loves the smell of the sea or lavender or Rose’s fresh cooking, it’s Willie’s personal scent that he loves the most. He can’t describe it, has never been able to put it into words the way people in books seem to be able to. It’s just  _ Willie _ . Even if there’s a hint of lavender there as well, from fabric softener. 

Alex takes a closer look at the shirt Willie is wearing for the first time this morning. It’s slightly too big for him, and pink has never been a colour Willie wears a lot. Or at all, really, he always claims that it’s Alex’s thing. “Hey, sweetheart, is that my shirt?”

“I think you mean  _ our  _ shirt, we’re married, remember?”

“As if I could forget, but also, that’s not how marriage works, I don’t think-,” Alex stops when Willie laughs, because he should be used to it by now, but their laugh is still one of the most precious sounds he can think of, and he wants to cherish every bit of it. “I don’t mind, I just remember you going to sleep in your North America Tour shirt.”

Willie hums and twists his neck so he can kiss the underside of Alex’s jaw. “You must remember wrong then. I was definitely wearing this and didn’t at all steal it out of the closet because I like the way it smells.”

“You could just use the same softener I use, you know that, right?” Alex asks, and as much as he’d like to watch the sun paint the sky and wake up the world around them, he can’t keep his eyes off Willie. He’s looking out at the sea, a serene expression on his face and his features bathed in the golden light of the dawning sky, lending him an ethereal glow that makes it impossible for Alex to tear his eyes away. Willie huffs in amusement. “That’s not the same thing as stealing your shirt though, is it? Now be quiet and let me enjoy the sunrise, I gotta see what you get up for every morning.”

Alex does. He lets Willie watch the sunrise and watches them, tracks the rising sun by the shadows on their face and the colour that glows over the chocolate brown of their hair. The sea sings a soft song in the background, millenia of practiced rhythm and waves rolling on the beach, seagulls crying far over the water and the breeze carrying the smell of it to them.

Alex gets lost in admiring the small details that make Willie  _ Willie _ , the curve of his eyelashes and the messy hair that’s still a bit knotted from sleep, the dip in the silver chain over his collarbones, visible only because of the too big shirt. The rings on Willie fingers, the black wedding ring on his left finger, with a few opals interspersed so it glows with the rising sun, the other black ring on his right middle finger, the first piece of jewelry Alex ever got him. The light catching in the various piercings in Willie’s ear. The lift of their lips, the soft smile that they wear when they’re truly relaxed and happy.

He misses the sunrise, and he can’t find it in him to care, or to regret it.

“Alright, I see the appeal,” Willie says when the sun is starting to look less like molten metal spreading in the sky and more like the bright star it usually does. They twist out of Alex’s grasp, and stand up, stretching. Alex nods, and Willie musters him for a second before sighing and shaking their head in amusement. “You weren’t looking at the sky, were you?”

“No, no, I was. Looking at the sunrise. I totally was,” Alex doesn’t even really try to hide it, there’s no point in it and no shame involved. Willie sighs and pulls him up, clasping their hands together behind Alex’s back, pulling him in. 

There’s a hint of red on their cheeks that fills Alex with even more warmth. He still gets mesmerized and incredibly distracted by Willie, it’s only fair they still blush when they realize it. It’s a healthy balance and all that. “Love, you only see the sun rise once a day.”

“And I’ve only seen you watch it do that once before,” Alex replies. Willie blinks and then exhales a loud, exasperated breath before sagging against Alex’s shoulder. “I fucking hate you,” he mumbles.

Alex can’t help but snort, and cradles Willie’s face in his hands, gently pulling them from his shoulder, so he can look at their eyes, glinting in the warm morning sun. He brushes a few strands of hair out of their face and kisses their forehead. Willie tightens his embrace around Alex’s waist. “‘M gonna have to watch the sunrise with you more often if it makes you that much of a romantic.”

“Excuse you, I’m always romantic. I’ve written you like ten songs already, and there’s one about you on every album we have,” Alex pretends to be offended, but he can’t keep that up for long because Willie’s face softens again and he leans into Alex’s touch and nods gently. “I know, I cried at every single one, and I’ll cry at every other song you write,” they stand up on their tiptoes and press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I want to watch sunsets with you though, if you let me. It’s very meditative.”

“I’ve been saying that for ages, but no one ever listens to me.” Alex grins when Willie rolls his eyes and shakes his head, looking out to the sea for a moment. “I’m bringing coffee tomorrow, I have no idea how you do this without one every morning.”

“It’s called not wasting the entire day in bed, you should try it sometime.” Alex kisses the tip of Willie’s nose before he has time to protest. He gently pulls out of the embrace but keeps hold of Willie’s right hand. “We should have breakfast before the idiots wake up and make a mess of the kitchen.”

“You know they’re still hours from waking up, right?” Willie raises an eyebrow and winks. “We could still go back to bed.”

“We could also have coffee and I’ll play the guitar for you while you draw me,” Alex suggests instead. He’s been wanting to learn how to play for years, and has finally started practicing on Bobby’s old acoustic a year ago. He’s gotten quite good at it, and Willie enjoys his ‘softer, non-rockstar’ side a lot. Willie also enjoys drawing him a lot, and while it’s taken him some time to get used to, Alex now enjoys seeing them frown in concentration. The results are always stunning, and sometimes, when Willie has to be away for a few days for a shoot, he goes through their art folder.    
He’s allowed to, and sitting in their bedroom, looking at dozens upon dozens of sketches and drawings Willie’s made of him over the years, he always misses Willie more and less at the same time. 

“Alright, but only because you bribed me,” Willie concedes, leaning up to press a short kiss to Alex’s lips before pulling him along and back to the house. Alex follows, like he always does, and like he always will. 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm just queer. i want this.   
> :((
> 
> if you enjoyed, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!! :))  
> if you feel like talking/yelling, about jatp or in just general, you can find me on tumblr as [on-irratia](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/on-irratia)  
> have a good day/ night/ rest of time! :D


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